[AliFenrisMom]

So today Fenris and I went to the beach. It was so crazy I didn't manage to snap any pictures, but he loved it! He played with the waves, jumped right into the ocean, and then burrowed into the sand. But after it was sand and salt water soaked coat everywhere. Eventually, when he is older, I'll have him shaved short but now (16 weeks) he still has that long puppy coat. He got a bath today after. But if we end up going often to the beach, I'm afraid that it would mean too frequent bathing. I heard that too frequent bathing could dry out his skin. So what kind of grooming would you recommend for after a beach day? Or maybe something for skin care? Keep in mind, we live in Florida and will probably end up have beach day 3-4 days a week. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Charmed]

With the kind of gritty sand the beaches in southern California are made of, I have found that using a force dryer outside, before you bring them in the house works best. Once the sand is out of the coat, you can either rinse and blow dry, or do a complete wash.

 

[AliFenrisMom]

What do you consider a rinse vs complete wash? And should I worry about his skin if we start to frequent the beach a lot? On my side of the coast we have gritty sand from seashells. I am thinking it's similar to California sand? Our other coast has fine, soft white sand.

 

[Charmed]

What do you consider a rinse vs complete wash? And should I worry about his skin if we start to frequent the beach a lot? On my side of the coast we have gritty sand from seashells. I am thinking it's similar to California sand? Our other coast has fine, soft white sand.

A rinse is just plain water, and a complete wash would be with shampoo, conditioner and any other product that you put on your poodle. I try to always blow dry as a curly coat tangles more quickly. There are other factors, too...like if your beach has tar that sticks to your dogs coat. I avoid beaches that have oil rigs off the coast because the tarry black ooze is a nightmare to get out of a coat.

 

[AliFenrisMom]

A rinse is just plain water, and a complete wash would be with shampoo, conditioner and any other product that you put on your poodle. I try to always blow dry as a curly coat tangles more quickly. There are other factors, too...like if your beach has tar that sticks to your dogs coat. I avoid beaches that have oil rigs off the coast because the tarry black ooze is a nightmare to get out of a coat.

Thanks! I'll be rinsing him then! I can't wait until he gets rid of his puppy coat and I can cut his adult coat close to the body, seems like the best cut for frequent swimmers. And this beach is generally very clean, the worst we have is debris after hurricanes. Oil rigs are more a Florida West coast issue.

 

[Raindrops]

Too frequent bathing is not an issue. I think it is a myth. Many show dogs are bathed every day or every other day. Just use a conditioner or a good 2in1 conditioning shampoo. Like minksheen or proline fair advantage. No issues with baths every 3 days here. When it's rainy season. You could just rinse and air dry but if blow drying I would do a full bath.

 

[AliFenrisMom]

Too frequent bathing is not an issue. I think it is a myth. Many show dogs are bathed every day or every other day. Just use a conditioner or a good 2in1 conditioning shampoo. Like minksheen or proline fair advantage. No issues with baths every 3 days here. When it's rainy season. You could just rinse and air dry but if blow drying I would do a full bath.

Thanks for the recs on the products. I'll look into those. And that's good to know, I've been worried about us going to the beach too often, especially once the sun stops setting at 6 pm and we get more evening light time.

 

[Liz]

Too frequent bathing is not an issue. I think it is a myth.

Thank you. That's actually reassuring to hear someone say.

 

[AliFenrisMom]

They are water retriever dogs so that would make sense, right? I'd think they are bred to frequent wet environments... And yet I never thought of it as a myth before.

 

[Raindrops]

Thank you. That's actually reassuring to hear someone say.

I'm sure it can be for people using harsh cheapo grocery store dog shampoo. But I've never heard of it being an issue with poodles that get bathed constantly. Dry skin is more likely to be a dietary issue. Not all kibbles provide enough fat and fatty acids for coat health.

 

[Raindrops]

They are water retriever dogs so that would make sense, right? I'd think they are bred to frequent wet environments... And yet I never thought of it as a myth before.

Yep. I know somebody who has to bathe their golden retriever almost daily because she loves swimming in stinky muddy water. Her coat is lovely despite the bathing.

 

[Liz]

I guess I thought it was the shampoo, similar to humans where shampooing every day can strip your hair of oils and make your hair unhealthy... come to think of it, there probably has never been a study on daily use of dog shampoo on different types of dog hair, because who would fund that?, and the origin of this myth may be simply people applying human experience to their doggos, in which case, shampooing daily from time to time (like in the muddy season) is just fine.

Sorry for the train of thought run-on.

 

[Raindrops]

I guess I thought it was the shampoo, similar to humans where shampooing every day can strip your hair of oils and make your hair unhealthy... come to think of it, there probably has never been a study on daily use of dog shampoo on different types of dog hair, because who would fund that?, and the origin of this myth may be simply people applying human experience to their doggos, in which case, shampooing daily from time to time (like in the muddy season) is just fine.

Sorry for the train of thought run-on.

No... it's an interesting topic. I have always heard that for human hair though I have always used shampoo daily as well! But also shampoo used to be harsher than it typically is now. So maybe it is no longer the issue it once was. I haven't used any shampoo with lauryl sulfate for many years.

I do use shampoo with no conditioner on a groom day as I want hair as straight as possible. But that is only once a month. I adore my fair advantage shampoo for frequent use. I think it is very gentle. It smells like a lemon drizzle cake.

 

[Liz]

That makes so much sense, Rain. I have a lot of men in my family, so I grew up using Pert Plus (we were fancy) daily. I had no idea how dry my hair was until I was out of college.

Lemon drizzle cake sounds delicious. It's a cold, rainy day here, and I could use something sweet with a cuppa.

 

[AliFenrisMom]

Lemon drizzle cake sounds delicious. It's a cold, rainy day here, and I could use something sweet with a cuppa.

Now you guys are just making me hungry.

 

[Raindrops]

Now you guys are just making me hungry.

My family wouldn't stop smelling Misha's head when we were visiting on holiday 😆

 

[Basil_the_Spoo]

I guess I thought it was the shampoo, similar to humans where shampooing every day can strip your hair of oils and make your hair unhealthy... come to think of it, there probably has never been a study on daily use of dog shampoo on different types of dog hair, because who would fund that?, and the origin of this myth may be simply people applying human experience to their doggos, in which case, shampooing daily from time to time (like in the muddy season) is just fine.

Sorry for the train of thought run-on.

I too think it's interesting because I've thought the same.

I was hoping someone would post "I have 30+ years of poodle experience, my dogs swims in the ocean multiple times a week, this is what we do _" to satisfy my curiousity.

The salt is the mystery variable.